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After purchasing new computer, I loaded my old software Office 2003 basic edition onto Windows 11. It loaded fine, however, when trying to open or save a file in either Word or Excel the program stalls and the hour glass appears. I click within the Save or Open dialog box and receive a error that says Open(Not Responding) or Save(Not Responding).
I used this old software without issue in Windows 10, so not sure what is happening? I realize the software is quite dated, but I don't use it often enough to really justify upgrading and I like the software. I would like to continue to use if possible.
Hope someone can help me.
I'm having the exact same problem. Did Microsoft offer a solution? I installed the 2003 office software from the original disks and downloaded and installed all of the updates. Excel 2003 and Word 2003 doesn't see my hard drive.
I cannot seem to get it to work and the person below that left a comment didn't make sense to me, because I bought a new computer and there should be no need to clean anything. So far nobody has any solution.
thanks for getting back to me. Office 2003 works fine under windows 10, but, I just got a new laptop running 11 and now it doesn't work. If I hear of a fix, I'll let you know. - brian
Yes, the program worked fine with Windows 10 and I wish I would have never upgraded to Windows 11. If you find anything, please let me know. Thanks.
Having same issue with Word and Excel 2003. I can save an existing document but cannot "save" or "save as" a new document. Workaround for me is to go to File Explorer, copy an existing file, modify that file which can then be saved. Other information - I have two computers running Windows 11 and Office 2003. One box works fine and the other exhibits the "save"/"save as" issue. Here are the specs:
WORKS FINE
Dell XPS 8930
Windows 11 Pro
Version: 21H2, OS Build: 22000.652, Windows Feature Experience Pack: 1000.22000.652.0
Office 2003 Professional Version 11.0.7969.0 SP2
CANNOT "SAVE" OR "SAVE AS"
Dell XPS 8940
Windows 11 Home free upgrade
Version: 21H2, OS Build: 22000.1219, Windows Feature Experience Pack: 1000.22000.1219.0
Office 2003 Professional Version 11.8.411.8341 SP3
Hope this helps.
I'm sorry to say this, but the one drive file structure is the reason for the crashes. Uninstalling onedrive via the add and remove programs menu will completely eliminate the office 2003 crashes. Until onedrive is fixed with better support for legacy programs, this is the only remedy that I am aware of.
Had exactly same problem. Uninstalled One Drive and now Excel functions normally.
Not necessary to uninstall OneDrive - just disable it for the users who want to use Office 200x - On my machine the OneDrive was set up as the repository for all my documents so I found a way on the internet to stop that from happening and the problem was 'fixed' without modifying the machine other than telling it to not use OneDrive. I had not found anyone with the problem with Office 2003 who indicated OneDrive was the problem before I made my 'find' by accident. So I reported it here - suddenly I find there are several who had discovered the 'problem' with OneDrive previously. None of these came up prior to this when I was looking for the answer. I wonder why?
It took me hours and hours to try solving the problem until i followed this process you provided. It's back to normal now. Thank you for your great assistance. Fei
I tried several of the methods identified by others, but they did not work for me. I, too, had used Office 2003 satisfactorily on Windows 10 Home. I bought a new computer (a 17" HP with intel i5, 1 T SSD and 16 G of ram) running Windows 11 home. I found that Word and Excel both had problems with hanging on open and save as.
I found a work around was to locate a saved file from previous work, copy the file and rename it, delete the contents, and load the new content for the file either by typing it in or copying it from a text editor. That way save would work as long as I didn't press save as. I resigned myself to doing that until I could find a solution.
Shortly after that I noticed that OneDrive was set up to receive my files from <documents>. Then I discovered that all of my files were being pointed to the cloud in Windows 11. I went onto the internet to find out how to stop that - I am one of those people who does not want to put my stuff on the cloud. I found out how to do it and stopped OneDrive from being the repository then moved everything that was saved there off the OneDrive, back to the c: drive.
I went back to work and lo and behold Word 2003 and Excel 2003 are now able to operate correctly in both open and save as. It appears that somehow, the presence of OneDrive was impeding these operations. And now they are working as expected and as they had on Windows 10 previously.
I am sure that someone else can explain this and I for one am hard pressed to imagine that MS is unaware of it.
This information is very helpful, but, did you uninstall open drive or did you just shut it down. I've read some other people have uninstalled it and I'm not comfortable doing that.
Deloris Wing, you just made my day!! I followed what you suggested and actually unlinked OneDrive from my device. No need to delete OneDrive either, just unlink (that is what Microsoft calls it) and the problem is solved. I now can use the software and save and open files as I had it the past!! Lovely.
Thank you so much for responding. You've done me a great service. It took almost a year to find a solution and you've done it. Thank you, thank you!!
I have copied the instructions from Microsoft to do this and they are as follows:
Unlink OneDrive
You won't lose files or data by unlinking OneDrive from your computer. You can always access your files by signing in to OneDrive.com.
Windows
Open OneDrive settings (select the OneDrive cloud icon in your notification area, and then select the OneDrive Help and Settings icon then Settings.)
Go to the Account tab.
Select Unlink this PC.
I unlinked Onedrive on my windows 11 laptop and lo and behold my Microsoft Office 2003 software (Excel and Word) now works as good as new.
I don't know anything more than that (like repercussions for unlinking onedrive), but, I'm a lot happier now. thank you Deloris Wing and everyone else on this chain. It only took me 8 months to get it resolved 😊.
Ms. Wing, would you please save me an hour and tell me how you stopped the files from being pointed to the cloud?
Thank you.
Indeed detached cloud, and it worked
Deloris and Edward--Yippee!! I'd been installing and reinstalling my Office 2003 on a Lenovo with Win 11 and having the same "no save" problem. Working fine now. I had installed O2003 recently on another LEvono W11 without the issue. Thanks to you folks, I can cancel my Geek Squad appointment and enjoy the rest of my day!!
The issue is related to the Windows 11 default setup logon accout profile creation linked OneDrive. I created a another local only logon account and can now save without freezing.
thanks for the helpful information on this topic. when you say you created another local only logon account, is that a microsoft logon account?
I did not have to create another account - just quit using OneDrive.
Hello, I had exactly same problem on my laptop after updating from Windows 10 to Windows 11.
I thought i am the only one having this problem, and just saw this just now.
searching on so many platform already for answers but nothing useful. most of them gived the solution for excel 2013 or newer version, seems nobody care on this outdated 2003 version anymore
the funny thing : we have 2 laptops at home, both using windows 11 on the same brand MSI.
one no problem to use the excel 2003, no error happen at all
but the other one have the exact problem as above, cannot open / save as.. and will stuck forever waiting.
really hope if someone can help
Uninstall onedrive with the add/remove programs menu. Good luck
I can tell you of my experience of this but the answer will probably not be the one you want to hear! Following upgrading my computer which was running Windows 10, I decided to upgrade to Windows 11. If you Google windows 11 download it will take you to the correct web page where there are 3 options. 1) Windows 11 Installation Assistant, 2) Create Windows 11 Installation Media and 3) Download Windows Disk Image (ISO). The web page says that the first option is the best choice for installing Windows 11 on the device you’re currently using, so this is the choice I made. Office 2003 installed without any apparent issues until I came to use the program. No matter which application I used be it Word, Excel or Access they all shown the same fault when it came to either trying to open or indeed save a blank document. The file dialog box appeared but where you would expect to see the folder structure it was just blank white space. I then decided to revisit the Microsoft website and choose option two and created a bootable DVD. I entered Bios and changed the Boot Order to make the DVD Drive the primary boot option and installed Windows 11 from the DVD. I wanted a clean install so I chose the option to format my C: Drive after of course backing up all of my data! I reinstalled Office 2003 and now it works perfectly. Hope this helps.